Properties of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) are now with the State Government after forcible take over in a midnight action. But as the HPCA brought International cricket to the Hill State, in the past both Congress and BJP MPs had doled out money from MPlAD funds to the association.
Former Rajya Sabha MP Kripal Parmar of BJP gave Rs25 lakh while former Congress MP Chander Kumar from Congress had given Rs 5 lakh from the Member of Parliament local Area Development (MPlAD) funds- public exchequer money to HPCA.
Parmar was Rajya Sabha MP from 2000 to 2006 while Chander Kumar was MP from Kangra from 2004 to 2009. Congress vice president Harsh Mahajan, a loyalist of chief minister Virbhadra Singh, conceded the fact. “Yes this is on record that funds were given from MPlAD by both Parmar and Kumar but that was given when HPCA was society and for the promotion of cricket in the state,” said Mahajan.
He added that HPCA had flouted the rules by changing its status as company and this status change could not have been done without the permission of the state government and without dissolving the HPCA as society. “How can a society registered in Himachal Pradesh having taken benefit of land automatically change into company without informing the government,” said Mahajan.
On Monday HP Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu lauded the state government action to cancel the lease of HPCA controlled infrastructure, including Dharamshala international stadium and Hotel Pavilion.
“Wide scale irregularities were reported in HPCA and lease of over 100 acres of land was given to society not the HPCA as company for the promotion of cricket and secondly they were not supposed to use the land for any commercial purpose but they did,” said Sukhu.
He added that HPCA had become one family affairs with five of its lifetime members having voting rights for elections were relatives and sons of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal while remaining twenty members were non Himachalis.
“In whole of country, cricket association of the state give voting rights to district cricket associations but in HPCA, only 25 lifetime members were given voting rights and those were near and dear ones of ex-chief minister,” said Sukhu.